Not a face, a face. This is how Dong Qichang created it with Yan Zhenqing's brushwork.

In the "Dong Qichang Danqing Rare Exhibition" held at the Shanghai World Expo, there is a vertical exhibition of running script written by Dong Qichang in his later years at the end of the venue. Dong Shi's calligraphy works in the exhibition hall are mostly album pages and hand scrolls, and this vertical exhibition is the only one, which is the masterpiece of Dong Qichang's calligraphy in his later years.

This work is called Baoding Song Axis. 1604, Dong Qichang visited the West Lake in Hangzhou and bought a Baoding as a study. 1609, Dong Qichang edited his ancient calligraphy into "Bao Ding Zhai Fa Tie", and its inscription was specially recorded by Ban Gu's "Bao Ding Ge", with a detailed story. Thus, "Baoding Pavilion" has become one of the favorite materials in Dong Qichang's works.

Dong Qichang once said: Yu Xueshu first studied many pagodas of Yan Pingyuan. Dong Qichang's calligraphy began with the study of Yan and Ti, and then developed continuously, which had an important influence on Dong's calligraphy creation. This axis is based on the color of the face, and it is smooth and vigorous, full of bones and muscles, calm and happy, indicating dignified and honest face. Write a book with Yan Zhenqing's brushwork, and clearly mark the imitation book after the work. Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy became a key reference in Dong Qichang's calligraphy creation in his later years, which can be said to be "meaning-oriented".

This work was created at the same time as "What is Regular Script" collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei, both of which are works of about 80 years old. When Dong Qichang imitated other calligraphers' regular script in middle-aged and old age, he often took part in inkstone, showing a good preference for inkstone.

Among Dong Qichang's works, there are a lot of copying and calligraphy works. Dong Shi advocated "meaning-oriented", which was obtained through a lot of copying and in-depth understanding of Yan Zhenqing's works. It is "based on meaning", so in his works of copying Yan Shu, it is almost impossible to see which inscriptions he learned from Yan Shu, but he sang Yan Zhenqing's notes with his heart.